nVidia 8800M cards bought separately?

Does anyone know if the 8800M cards will be sold "stand-alone"? Because previously nVidia cards only came with notebooks, right? You couldn't just walk into a store and buy a boxed videocard like you can with a desktop card. I'm asking this because some notebooks such as the Asus C90 say they allow the user to "upgrade" components such as the videocard, but if nVidia wont retail the cards on their own then what's the point?

 

Most notebooks cannot have their graphics cards upgraded. Some can, but they often use proprietary connections and designs, which means that any upgrade will probably have to be bought from the same people you bought the notebook from.

 

Have you read Chaz's sticky about upgrading video cards? Specifically the bit about MXM interfaces and which laptops support them?

Word is the 8800 cards require new motherboards compared to current 8600 and 8700 models, so upgrading is a lot trickier but doable with patience and cash.

 

Ok, so just as I thought. They wont be sold to end users, rather to dealers who you will have to take your notebook to to get "upgraded" and they can charge a service fee on top of whatever they like for the actual card. Quite disappointing.

Thanks.

 

Don't forget that most notebooks are not upgradeable, period.

 

Laptop are like TV or gaming console... when its too old and cant do the job... you have to buy a new one...

 

To answer his question though. Yes you can buy stand alone 8800M GTX cards. The question you need to ask is will they fit your machine.